Mark
The Tactician (軍師 Gunshi, lit. Military Adviser) whose default name is Mark (マーク Māku) is portrayed as a mysterious traveler who is found unconscious on the plains by Lyndis at the beginning of Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade. The tactician was introduced to give the player an actual role in the game and was a means to introduce players into the gameplay mechanics of the Fire Emblem series, of which The Blazing Blade (simply titled Fire Emblem for outside territories) was the first of the series to be launched outside Japan. The tactician is a male named Mark by default at first, though the player can change the name, gender and birth month at the start of the game. They act as the player's avatar and is a non-playable character during the whole game, but will never appear during actual gameplay. Most of the time, they are only addressed by other characters during story sequences. The tactician can be seen, but only during the few scenes involving movement on the battlefield, appearing as a sprite resembling a brown-haired individual wearing green robes over yellow garments. The sprite itself will never change between genders, regardless of the player's choice in the beginning of the game. , Sain, Kent and the Tactician, barely visible on the right border|left]] Despite never having a set appearance or any dialogue in the story, some snippets of the tactician's personality are seen in conversations with other characters. They are compassionate, willing to let Lyn journey with them and helping her take back her land, family and inheritance. They can be rather incredulous at times, shown when Serra wonders why the tactician is giving her a strange look at her "generosity" when offering to heal Erk. They are also willing to go to any lengths for their friends, shown when they even join the final battle against Nergal. Depending on the gender, characters will react on the tactician differently. For example, Sain will try to flirt to both Lyn and the player if the tactician is a female and Florina will hesitate to speak to the player if the tactician is portrayed as a man, but will talk in a more comfortable manner when speaking to a female tactician. Nonetheless, everyone in the army respects the tactician greatly, offering suggestions and putting their faith in his or her orders. The tactician is asked at the end of Eliwood and Hector's story to name their children and to become the godparent of Roy and Lilina, respectively. There are also alternate endings, though they may change based on the playthrough and the ranking of the tactician at the end of the game. At the lowest ranking, the tactician's strategy is viewed as so incomprehensible that historians of Elibe in the far future are puzzled as to how he achieved Eliwood and his army victory with such a strategy. However, at the better rankings, the tactician is highly revered by many because of their skills in tactics. So much in fact, that Bern, Lycia and Etruria are searching for them. At the highest ranking, Bern and Etruria go so far as to start a war in order to procure the skills of this brilliant mind. Regardless, it is implied that the tactician was never found. In Fire Emblem Awakening, at the end of Smash Brethren 3, Lyn speaks to the Avatar. Due to the many similarities between the two tacticians, Lyn believes the Avatar to be her old friend. It may be that the Avatar is a reincarnation of the original tactician in another world. Lyn asks the Avatar if they are in fact her old friend, and the player is given a yes/no choice that Lyn will respond to accordingly. Gameplay Tactician Stars The tactician will never appear on the field of battle, but they can contribute all the same. Starting in Chapter11, the game will keep a hidden tally (only revealed in the results screen) measuring the player's overall aptitude throughout the campaign. Each chapter has four hidden 'thresholds' for each of the five criteria featured in the ranking screen: * Tactics: Turncount for the current chapter. Some chapters, namely Hector-exclusive chapters, have an unreachable '0' for its easiest threshold, making it impossible to score above 1/5 in this area. * Combat: Number of enemies killed vs. number of battles fought. Roughly 40% of all battles should end in an enemy dying, for a 5/5. Many enemies are frail and tend to die in two battles or less, so this rating is trivially easy to score well in, as long as the player doesn't Boss Abuse. * Experience: Number of Experience points gained in the current chapter, whether in battle or during preparation. * Funds: Change in net worth during the current chapter, including the buy value of all items in the player's inventory. Because an item's sell value is always lower than its buy value, selling items(particularly Gems) will always hurt a player's funds rank. * Survival: Number of units, if any, that died during the current chapter. A unit's death will instantly prevent a 5/5 score for the chapter. The game will calculate a total score for the chapter, based on the best threshold the player reached for each area. Depending on the player's score, they will be assigned anywhere from 0 to 5 points. 0 Points corresponds to an overall 1/5 ranking in virtually every area, with none of the lowest pars reached. 5 points corresponds to a perfect 5/5 in every area, with all of the hardest pars reached. It should be noted that achieving a perfect 5/5 score is literally impossible in some chapters, primarily bonus missions from Hector's campaign and Survival missions in which killing the boss will not end the chapter, as a 5/5 tactics ranking is impossible in both cases. For every 12 points the player earns this way, the tactician will be afforded a tactician star, up to a maximum of 10. Tactician Stars-effects Units whose affinity is identical to the tactician's receive an additional point in both hit and avoid for each star the tactician earns. For all units, regardless of affinity, an additional point is added to critical evasion for each star that's earned. If the player decides to not use a tactician at all, no units will receive this bonus. Because all units receive a boost to critical evasion as a result of Tactician Stars, enemy criticals are extremely rare in The Blazing Blade, usually only achieved by Swordmasters or enemies with dedicated critical-hitting gear. This boost can be compared to Leadership Stars from Thracia 776 . Depending on the player's aptitude, the player can expect to receive an additional star anywhere from once every three chapters to about once every ten chapters. Affinity The affinity of the tactician is determined by the tactician's chosen birth month. In the Japanese version of the game, an option exists to choose the tactician's bloodtype, which will also factor into determining affinity. Due to a lesser cultural importance of bloodtypes, this isn't included in the English versions and affinity is determined purely by birth month. If the player elects not to use a Tactician, no units will receive an affinity boost. Some affinities are generally considered better or worse than others. The Dark affinity, for example, only has four representatives, two of whom are rarely used prepromotes and one of whom is Merlinus and should never see combat to begin with. Wind, on the other hand, has nearly twice as many representatives, including a Lord, a Thief, and a powerful cavalier who would very much appreciate the accuracy boost. Other If the player elects not to use a Tactician at all, they will never receive Afa's Drops. Tactician Conversations Eliwood's Story Hector's Story Possible Endings Note: Mark is the default tactician's name. You are given the choice to replace "Mark" with a name of your choosing. Lyn's Story Mark - The Tactician Mark leaves Lyn to continue his training. He plans on traveling throughout Lycia. Lyn refuses to say good-bye, believing in her heart that she will see him again. Eliwood/Hector's Story Mark - Superb Mind (Tactician Rank A or S) A tactician whose brilliance changed the course of history. Bern and Etruria so desired this skilled mind that they went to war. Mark - Famed Genius (Tactician Rank B or C) The tactician vanished after the battle. Bern, Lycia, and Etruria all sought those famed skills, but none ever found the tactician. Mark - Suspect Mind (Tactician Rank D or Lower) To this day, historians look back and question how these incomprehensible strategies ever led to victory. Affinities of Birth Months *January: Light *February: Ice *March: Wind *April: Thunder *May: Wind *June: Anima *July: Fire *August: Dark *September: Fire *October: Anima *November: Ice *December: Thunder Trivia *In Fire Emblem Awakening, Lyn suspects that the Tactician and the Avatar might be the same person. This is an allusion to the possibility of Lyn remembering the player from The Blazing Blade. This isn't the only allusion made to the Tactician in Awakening; the Japanese name of Morgan is Marc. Category:Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade characters